Saturday, February 5, 2011

revolution for the people (raos)

I judge everybody, humans included, on one criteria: How do you treat me?

Imagine the berater as a raging hardon

Loughner seems to have been an avid seeker -- desperately trying to find a way to make sense of his life.

Most mentally ill people, busy with internal demons and external harassment, are not violent against anyone but themselves. Those who prove dangerous we incarcerate -- in jails or mental health facilities. There was talk that the Columbine crazies were on anti-depressants known to affect cognition of harm and increase propensity to violence. The evidence on mj re mental health is mixed. Many find some degree of relief to better manage their symptoms, as with many "physical" diseases. Marijuana use does not cause mental illness. It may increase confusion, which can display a previously undiagnosed condition. Mental illness is a catch phrase for a variety of situations: learning disabilities, the autistic spectrum, schizophrenias, mood disorders, personality disorders -- none of these are well understood. They are different ways of processing information from the norm, which has no fixed definition. Problems are often about concomitant social illnesses -- people treated as "other" kept out of the mainstream through their own confusions, overwhelmed sensitivities, the responses they get from those around them. We need more public dialog to better understand the dissociative and delusional thought that, really, we all experience at times. A recent tv ad talks about how important friendship can be. Various studies indicate that real, honest human interaction can be better than treatments that do not adequately show respect for the mentally ill person's humanity and healing ability. We often feel uncomfortable around people who appear "strange." Perhaps we need community safe havens where people can relate in more meaningful ways than is usual.

You are not suffering bad luck as such. You are suffering the wrath of an unbalanced human. You might try going through local law enforcement if they can do anything -- at least you will have your complaints on record. You might try getting yourself into a position of calm, open, awareness and see if you can have quiet conversations with this person that might help them to understand and move toward cooperation. You might best find a champion -- someone with power, spiritual, secular, financial, physical -- someone who can come to your aid. More importantly, you can come to a clearer understanding of the dynamics involved and find ways to reach a more comfortable outcome.

Ultimately healing comes down to personal responsibility, to figuring out how to go on from here better. The stories we tell ourselves need to be malleable, adaptable to the life we truly desire. I think, ideally, the therapist is a resource to create a space in which this figuring out can be done, to give guidance as to how that can be done, to give an audience for the trying out of these adaptations that can be trusted, and to be the strong positive presence that helps to instill resilience.

What is wrong with bringing up upsetting emotional material? How else might one learn to become calm in upsetting emotional situations? It seems like we all want instant everything and blame the messenger when it is not forthcoming.

The disease is not the addiction -- that is the person attempting to ameliorate their pain. Thus, the cure would need to apply to the pain, which would end the need and thus the hold of the addiction.

There are all kinds of environmental and health policy issues affecting health. Perhaps our well-touted high cost of healthcare ought to be ameliorated by sufficiently taxing those who contribute to unhealthy conditions.

This would in fact be a laudable solution to the "drug problem" obviating a desire for yet another "war" mentality booster.

I have forgotten the sweet, sickly poetry of the Nile

Ever moistening the fecund fields

No need to hold to ancient fantasies

Great Caesar has left the realm

Dear Cleo weeps no more,

carrying dark Godhead into her

Nile cooled lips for a brief whisper

before pyramids shudder

before the Nile sleeps

before I dream a guileless day

Falling from dream to the dayMemories drift in to say "Hey, sweetdreamer, remember me?"

As to Caesar, a silly old soulHis greeting is more:"Enjoying the flow?"

Nothing IS true. Everything IS permitted. "True" and "Permit" are human constructs, and not even natural state human constructs. They are social constructs which artificially limit our understanding of or relationship with the real. The law of nature does not "permit" or worry over "truth." It is pretty much: Do what you will; and see where that gets you. The realities are not normative, but immediate.

In my quite unscientific way, I was recently musing about the Pluto ingenerations. The Boomers -- Pluto in Leo -- we were playing out children'sroles, questioning authorities, impudently laughing at the elders, looking forexpress ourselves creatively and with arrogance.

Oh, disclaimer: I am talking about the general mood; of course individualmileage will vary.

Pluto in Virgo got to be critics, of the Boomers and the parents and themselves,looking at health and jobs, our place as stewards, with critical faculties.

Pluto in Libra seem to love to socialize, harmonize, look at partnerships from awhat? more practical? more balanced perspective?

Little Pluto in Scorpio, oh how you delve, bringing dark matter into light.They do seem sexually active in your face; they will be the aftermath of thistransforming era, leaving behind the dross (hopefully). They will also belooking at death, sex, regeneration, more deeply.

The children with Pluto in Sag -- oh what adventure awaits, revisioning the bigpicture, perhaps traveling beyond the Solar System.

And the babies with Pluto in Capricorn: the new world order to come?

Living in the building of a structure for fulfillmentis magic, well practiced.

I am familiar with the stranger

catch her image as I pass

mirrored walls

Easy to love,

easy to lie away

unquestioned afternoons,

bare and silent

Equivalences, valences, vacant stares

pass without comment

Stranger than I or my love

ghosts wander,

merge,

insubstantial

There is a difference between systems of governing and systems of wealth distribution. "Right - authoritarian" or "Left - libertarian" governments can govern societies with pretty much any kind of economic system. Individual, free people can decide to share the wealth for their mutual benefit, even if some might prefer to tip the scale to those better able to corral resources and hold them for ransom and solidify their gains with a Plutocracy.

It is time that we put together a working world economy and currency. Since we people never like to change without a serious crisis, I guess that is what will have to happen.

There is messaging from an oligarchy that wants plenty of labor to keep costs low and plenty of consumers of their products, and plenty of anxiety to keep folks mindlessly working and buying. It makes the sin not reproducing (taking the philosophy of religion from a time when the human population was not certain and when "social security" was children that lived to grow up). Once you pop the kids out, of course, they couldn't care at all how you manage.

That does seem to be the philosophy. Money is not an inventive tool created to help us live better -- it is the be all end all. Where did this idiocy come from? How can we send it back?

Money doesn't even exist apart from our invocations. We have the power; we just don't bother to use it -- complacency, you know.

There are forms of ineffectiveness, outdatedness, inefficiencies that probably most would see as obvious. Perhaps if these were laid out in simple language where anyone could easily comment, such salient information would emerge.

If the big business interests are so concerned about taxation and the economy, shouldn't they be putting big investments where their "concern" is?

Of course it would be best to avoid an economic collapse (total or partial) by getting back to understanding the basics of economy -- distribution of resources and expansion of resources through creative work. There are so many models being played out in various micro-communities. We each and all can contribute to revitalizing our shared economic future, from which governmental bodies can also benefit. Trickle down was an abysmal failure. Building up makes so much more sense.

This is a time of crisis from which events will flow. Thus, it is a time when labels matter. If we come at this from a place of differentiation (nation, religion, political agenda, demonization of any kind), we will be building distrust and opportunity for despotism. If we come at this from a place of the people of the world striving for common freedoms, it could be a real revolution into an age of Man. (with perhaps less hyperbole, I suppose)

What is hope without adversity to bring it to the fore? Times of crisis necessitate change, since we humans seem to be too lazy or scared or content to make important changes without crisis.

I don't like the hate; but I'm really bored by the whining.

venting is not whining. There is a strong qualitative difference. When we vent our frustration and anger, it is therapeutic; and may encourage others to join together in common cause. Whining is blaming, or falling into self-unempowerment, giving up responsibility or opportunity to make a useful difference.

We so easily go for the hyperbole, when the problems we face are so much larger than the extreme. We don't have to worry about the dead. What they have suffered is done. What needs to be addressed, faced, dealt with, are all those heapings of unnecessary miseries we the living visit upon each other and thereby ultimately ourselves.

it's sad how the political media/political professionals latch on to the talking points of the moment, as if suddenly they have seen the light, which will go out again when the cameras leave.

Policies like greater public surveillance, anger management classes, anti-bullying measures, and probably longer sentences for violent offenders probably have something to do with lower murder rates. The point is not to deny legal access to guns, but to keep a balance between freedom and responsibility with public regulations. You know, like the argument for legalizing currently illicit drugs.

Maybe we ought to have some serious contemplation and discussions about just what we want from criminal law. Yes, we want to be free of the fear of criminal activity interfering with our lives. How can be better achieve that?

Let God be God. Did you really think He's been waiting all this time for you to arise and speak for Him?

There are always crazy folks, angry folks, easily manipulated folks, desperate folks, people without meaning in their lives who act irrationally irresponsibly and outrageously. Gods have nothing to do with it.

You're not going to find God looking in the wrong places. God is not somewhere out in the cosmos, but in you, and you, and you, and me, and that tree, and that cat, and that mouse, and that blade of grass. Why are so many so intent on separation?

You're are looking at this all wrong. God is not so much omnipresent, omniscient Creator (or a "He" or "She" or "They" or "It"), but all of time, all of knowledge, all of Creation. All of the material/spiritual multiverse is God's manifestation. Not "in" minds and hearts, but the essence of minds, hearts, blood, skin, DNA. Mountains do move in the course of time. Mustard seeds do grow. Not outside reality, but reality itself. God does not need believers, nor need, nor want, nor any human attribute, while being all attributes.

I agree that the prospect of giving up profits is a big attention getter. Maybe a scheme of taxation to pay for the negative results of products to the general welfare might be possible.

It's not about discipline, but information. We get so many mixed messages about health and how to promote or occlude it. We could eat all kinds of tasteful, satisfying foods, even gain weight above our "ideal" if we keep in mind nutritional facts and keep moving appropriately. Yet the pinnacle of our culture seems to be plastic food in front of the telly.

For jobs to be created, people, everyday people, have to create them. Governments are cutting jobs to address budget shortfalls. Jobs are created when people figure out what they can sell of their skills or products and go out and do it. If the business takes off, more work than the individual can or wants to do, they hire others, and so on. It's not rocket surgery.

There seem to be some kind of common knowledge that a job is THE means to a livelihood, to be somehow extracted from the wealthy. Rather a job is just leasing your skills to a customer which is an established business with a system of payment in place for bureaucratic convenience.

The sop they gave us to get the bail out through was that this money would be used to invest in getting American businesses back to work. We, the American electorate, need to move our revenues back to ourselves rather than giving tax breaks and subsidies to businesses that screw us.

It wasn't so much war as having a national project that ramped up industry. Changing over to alternative energy is the project most often suggested for today.

There is no saving ourselves out of the deficit. The only way out is up. The problem then is how best to grow the economy. The psychology of austerity is shrinking, not expanding. What we really need is a strong psychological uplift to get individuals and groups excited about growing.

Of course many people are not of the personality profile to start businesses; but those who are can certainly figure out how to use the talents and skills of those who are better laborers than employers in local, small businesses based on the actual local market.

As well as ending breaks and goodies for big multi-nationals, the government could look to simplifying, clarifying and updating regulations to better serve both business and the general public.

What these free-marketeers fail to take into account is that government is very much part of the market.

Nothing like austerity to get us to question our motives and results.

stop and think, next time Rand's heroes of industry get applauded: Does the person extolling these virtues of independence and vision exhibit those qualities? How would these "Randians" make out in a real Rand-based world?

"Obamacare" is a Congressional mongrel -- not at all what the President had proposed after all the grandstanders got through pissing in it. And yet, the electorate in general knows were are better off with this than without it.

Rather than destroyed or truncated, Medicare (or something like it with a different name, if that would help) ought to be expanded with the opportunity for paid subscriptions by those who prefer a government plan. In fact, why not just open Medicare to the public as one insurance plan option with the gov't. picking up the tab for the aged and poor? Before you start foaming up about unfair competition, the prices could be in line with the costs.

The march of human history seems to be moving toward greater individual liberty within a more empowered collectivity. I seem to remember this as explained in the Dialectic.

Morality is not at all about love, though they are certainly not mutually exclusive. Morality is about living well with others, and with oneself. Love is much more mystical.

It is simple enlightened self-interest -- no need for any outside sources of morality. Morality is not about anything mystical, spiritual, or authoritarian.

Religion, or the religious views prominently normative in an era, are very much affected by the sociology and politics of that era. Religion is not some mystical otherworldly overlord. It is political and based on conventions of social interaction.

If we want a Middle East to hate, to ratchet up anger and bloodshed, to take on the worst attributes of our phobic fears, we will act as if this is about religion. If we want a more democratic, fair and peaceful world, we will honor the Egyptian cause, the cause of any people who want that world for themselves.

You are equating the conditions in the United States to those in Egypt? Egyptians are protesting because they want it to be there more like it is here in terms of political power for the people.

Of course the US must advocate for US interests. Our interests, of course, change with the fluidity of world situations. Looking toward future best interests, we do well to encourage better democratic institution in the Middle East. The world is moving out of the shadows of the era of colonization and its aftermath in that region. The populations are mostly young, and motivated to greater self-empowerment. We do well to forge bonds of friendship for mutual social and economic benefit.

Violence, blood sacrifice, conquering and enslaving -- these were normative values in the "dark" ages -- and to some extent, still today. It's not about religion. The religious banners are just there to convince the people that their God is watching out for them as they do battle to increase the resources and power of their kin group (or nation).

The reasons for world problems are not in the domain of religion, but in the domains of biology, sociology, and politics.

It's not about the Koran or Islam. It's about a people's reaction to the devastations of colonialism and its turbulent aftermath -- realpolitik, not religion.

Do you even bother to look at the history of why these predictions and rationales were written in the Koran? It was a time when the people of Allah were being murdered and brutalized by outsiders bent on conquest. In the Old Testament, the exhortations to kill Jehovah's enemies were more about being the conquerors to take land and kill the inhabitants.

No need for big conspiracy theories or ancient cults -- today's power elite are simply about power, today.

You can find threads through history to prove any convoluted theory if you keep blinders on to the wider fabric.

People are angry, lives upset, messages confused. Taking to the streets in the sense of having a big old singing, dancing, speechifying, party with street vendors and buskers galore would be wonderful. Taking to the streets to yell vague slogans and rouse up righteous indignation would get us nowhere. Real improvement takes actual work, sober thought, rallying together for common uplifting rather than whining or divisive protest.